Chapter Thirty-Four
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ZOE WAS FEELING THE pressure of being an oracle who wasn’t receiving any visions.
Amaros kept giving her expectant looks, hoping for more tips on when his team would arrive.
Fate was dragging this out. Zoe didn’t want to tell her friends just how long she suspected it would take before all of the knights and cambions would finally turn up.
“Do you think Cam will blow his date with Victoria?” Grace asked, keeping her voice low so the warrior wouldn’t hear her. The men were putting closets together in one of the spare bedrooms.
“Probably,” Zoe replied and they shared a snicker. “Being around Vic turns his brain to mush,” she said. “He won’t be normal until she lets him bond with her.”
“She’s definitely going to say yes?” the teen asked, arranging the books in their library. She was going to offer their new friend some to read when she came to visit.
“Of course,” Zoe confirmed. “We can all see how deep their attraction is. Their bond is just as strong as Amaros’ and mine.”
“I hope Vic won’t put Cam through too much angst,” Grace said. “He’s annoying when he mopes.”
Camriel had sensed his mate coming closer early that morning. He’d gone out to meet her, but she’d just been out for a jog. He’d been sulking all day that she hadn’t caved in and come to see him.
“It’ll be good for the knights to have to work to win over their cambions,” Zoe figured. “No woman wants to be taken for granted.”
“Mine won’t have to work too hard,” Grace joked. “I’m ready to succumb to the bond now if it’ll make me stronger and increase my pitiful powers.”
Zoe gave her a distracted smile, being careful not to meet the kid’s eyes. “Your talents will increase, just like the rest of us,” she promised.
“Does this mean your rage is stronger now?” Grace asked.
Zoe flinched at that thought. “I hope not,” she said with a shudder, remembering a vision she’d had of being bound to her sire rather than to Amaros. She’d become a deadly monster beneath her father’s control.
“She’s coming!” Camriel shouted from the north wing. “Victoria will be here soon!”
“Sheesh, I’m pretty sure they heard him all the way in town,” Grace joked.
Zoe rolled her eyes at the warrior’s overreaction. “I’ll put the coffee on,” she said. They’d had lunch and were killing time in the great room, waiting for their guest to arrive.
“I’ll go and greet Vic,” Grace decided. She ran into Camriel at the back entrance. “I’ve got this,” she said, nudging the huge warrior in the side. “Stop hovering, or you’ll scare her away!”
Cam gave the teen an annoyed look, then obeyed her and slunk back to the north wing to assist Amaros.
“Hey, kiddo,” Victoria said in greeting as she strode into sight. “I brought my bow,” she said, holding up an expensive looking compound bow. A quiver was slung over her shoulder and the reaping hook was tied to her belt loop. “I thought you and Zoe might like some lessons,” she added.
“We’d love that!” Grace said, gesturing for the wrestler to enter. “Zoe’s just making some coffee,” she explained. “We can take it with us while we do some target practice.”
Zoe was glad to see Victoria looked better rested today. “Why do you look so smug?” she asked suspiciously when she noticed Vic’s smirk.
“You’ll never guess what I found when I went to clean my bathroom,” Victoria said.
“A giant spider?” Grace said with a shiver of dread.
“Nope,” Victoria said, shaking her head. “The previous owner attached a big plastic container to the wall just above the shower. The showerhead is attached to it through a short hose.”
Zoe figured out the implications immediately. “You can heat water up and have a hot shower!”
“Fudge yes,” Vic gloated. “I’ll be washing my hair with hot water tonight! I got the water tank to work, so I have some indoor plumbing as well.”
“I hate you so much right now,” Grace said enviously. Her natural blonde roots were already showing. She hadn’t bothered to dye it green, pink and blue again, since dye would soon become obsolete. There didn’t seem to be much point anymore anyway.
“I’m sure the guys could rig something up in the room that has a hole in the floor,” Victoria said in commiseration. “You just have to hope the water won’t ruin the foundation.”
“It has to be an old bathroom,” Zoe figured. “I just wish it had an actual pipe leading outside instead of just a hole in the floor.” She finished making their coffee, then grabbed some targets and they all headed outside.
“I saw a clearing a short distance away from the lake,” Vic said and led the girls to it. They were still within sight of the water, but were far enough away from their base that they could chat in privacy. She’d be able to sense it if Camriel came to investigate them.
“This is nice and secluded,” Zoe said shrewdly, figuring their new friend wanted to talk without being overheard.
“I have questions,” Victoria said.
“About Cam?” Grace asked.
“About all of you,” she replied. “I want to hear your stories. What happened to you after the Rapture? How did you all end up together?”
So far, they’d just skimmed over the details and hadn’t told her much.
Zoe had been expecting to be grilled, so she wasn’t surprised.
“My mother was ultra-religious,” she began.
She relayed witnessing the Rapture take her mom and the other parishioners while Vic taught them how to shoot the compound bow.
Victoria was silent when Zoe finished her tale. She now knew everything, including about Zoe’s temper and her talent to glimpse the future. “I feel really inferior now,” she joked. “All I can do is freeze my dreams and examine them in detail.”
“You’re also a skilled warrior who knows what your opponents are going to do before they attack you,” Grace reminded her.
“The guys are already planning to add you to their team. I’m the one who’s inferior here.
All I can do is steal stuff and become practically invisible when I don’t want to be seen. ”
“You still haven’t shown us that talent yet,” Zoe pointed out. She glanced at Victoria, then looked back at her friend. “Grace?” she said, brow furrowing when she couldn’t see the teen.
“I’m over here,” Grace said smugly as she leaned against a tree behind the pair.
“How the fudge did you do that?” Victoria asked in awe. “I only looked away for a second and you moved to a completely different spot.”
“I can move really fast in short bursts when I need to,” the teen said with a shrug as she ambled back over. “It’s a knack I picked up at an early age.”
“What about your life?” the wrestler queried. “Was your mom religious, too?”
Grace snorted out a laugh. “Try the complete opposite,” she said, taking the bow when Zoe handed it to her. She nocked an arrow and pulled the string back. Letting the arrow fly, she was pleased when she hit the edge of the target. “I’m better with a bow than I am with a gun,” she said.
“Both of you show promise,” Victoria said. “So, what was your mom like, then?” she prompted.
Grace shot another arrow before replying. “She was a thief, a grifter and she only cared about herself. Zoe’s mom taught her all about religion and how to obey God’s rules. My mom taught me how to lie, cheat, steal and break into people’s homes.”
“Shiz,” Victoria said, feeling bad for the kid. “That’s fudging horrible.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Grace muttered, but she didn’t elaborate.
Zoe shook her head warningly when Vic glanced at her. Some things needed to remain private. Grace’s past was one of them.
Taking the hint, Vic concentrated on teaching them how to use the bow. It was a quiet, effective way to kill things that suited them both far better than loud guns. They could be used at a distance, which made them even more suitable for the pair.
“We’ve got a few of these types of bows,” Zoe said when their lesson finally ended. “Grace and I will practice with them. We’d love it if you could continue to teach us.”
“I’d be happy to,” Vic said. “I don’t suppose I could borrow some books? I’m going out of my mind with boredom in the cabin.”
“I’ve already put a pile together for you,” Grace said, back to her usual happy self again. “I wasn’t sure what genres you like, so I chose a few from all of them.”
“I’ll read anything,” the wrestler said in gratitude as they headed back to the base. “We should make a trip to that bookstore and clear the place out before someone else beats us to it,” she suggested.
“We’ll take the little red truck and drive there tomorrow,” Zoe decided. “Vic can protect us from any idiots who might be stupid enough to attack us.”
“It will be good to have a girls’ day out,” Grace agreed, already looking forward to it.
“Agreed,” Victoria said with a grin. “I’ll come by at nine in the morning, if that’s okay with you?”
“That will be perfect,” Zoe agreed. “It looks like Camriel is ready for your first date,” she added, muffling a snicker when she saw the warrior standing in the doorway.
“Oh, boy,” Grace murmured in amusement. “He’s gone all out for you, Vic.”
Zoe glanced at their tall friend to see Victoria was struggling not to laugh.
Cam’s idea of a date outfit was a purple prom suit.
He’d matched it with a ruffled pale blue shirt.
His outfit was two sizes too small for him.
She was glad when Vic managed to control her amusement.
“You look very handsome, Camriel,” the cambion said to her date.
The knight beamed widely at the compliment, elevating Victoria from a neighbor to a true friend in Zoe’s and Grace’s minds.